One of four chartered buses taking UConn students from campus to Boston caught fire on a ramp to the Massachusetts Turnpike in Sturbridge, Massachusetts on Saturday.

The students were headed to a harbor cruise organized by a UConn student organization, according to UConn spokesperson Stephanie Reitz. No passengers were injured and smaller buses arrived to pick up the students who were on the bus that caught fire.

UConn student Hanna Kirsch said it was a "terrifying experience because you should be able to trust public transportation," but said that she doesn't fault the UConn organization that planned the trip because they couldn't have seen it coming.

"We had waited for this bus company to show up for 45 min outside of our UConn student union and after being on 84 for about 30 min, we all pulled over because a bus was having problems with its brakes," Kirsch said. "We were not updated on the situation whatsoever, it was handled VERY poorly by the bus company, and not to mention lives were put in danger by the negligence of the bus company and the way the drivers handled the situation. I was one of the first people who called 911, and ordered the bus driver to pull further away from a potentially fatal situation. After about 15 min of the bus smoking violently and students fleeing from the scene, the bus combusted and we continued on our way. Later on I saw pictures of the bus burned complete wreckage."

There wasn't a full bus to take everyone to Boston, so 52 students were taken back to campus on the mini buses and will get refunds for the cruise, Reitz said.

Police confirmed that the bus blaze happened on the on-ramp from I-84 onto I-90 eastbound and caused two lanes to close.

Viewer @CorporateGinger shared a photo of crews working to extinguish flames from the bus. She said she was passing by the bus fire around 1:30 p.m.

Police say the scene was cleared around 3:30 p.m.

No one was injured.

Check back as this story develops.

San Diego Police shot and injured a man early Saturday who they say was responsible for a killing a gas station customer earlier this week.

The shooting took place around 2:50 a.m. at an apartment complex near Winonna and Ontario avenues. The location is south of University Avenue and east of Euclid Avenue in San Diego's City Heights community.

According to SDPD Lt. Paul Rorrison, both uniformed and undercover police officers had been patrolling the area surrounding the complex since Friday night, conducting surveillance on a possible suspect from an earlier case involving a murder at a Clairemont gas station.

Rorrison said police received a call just before 1 a.m. from a resident who said there was a suspicious prowler in the area, possibly armed with a gun, who appeared to be casing the building and allegedly attempting to break into apartments.

Officers began searching the apartment complex.

At one point, they tried to enter a community-use room near a barbecue and playground area. The suspect was holed up inside that room and, from the door, he fired multiple rounds at the officers, Rorrison confirmed.

Police returned fire, striking the suspect. He was taken to nearby Mercy Hospital with what officials described as non-life threatening injuries.

The suspect, identified by police as 30-year-old Ahmed Hassan Mumin, is believed to be the man wanted in the fatal shooting at a Clairemont AM/PM on Thursday.

“We believe this is the suspect from our robbery and murder investigation that we’ve been on continuously for the past 48 hours,” said Rorrison.

No officers were injured in Saturday's shootout, but Rorrison said it was a very close call for the two officers involved.

“They were extremely lucky that they were not killed. The rounds that came out of the door there narrowly missed both of them. Fortunately, they moved off to the side got some cover and returned fire immediately,” he explained.

The two officers involved in the shootout have been with the San Diego Police Department for 25 years and 12 years, respectively, the SDPD said.

The victim in the gas station robbery was identified Friday as Eric Schade, 48. Police say Schade was a regular customer of the AM/PM store on the corner of Balboa and Mount Abernathy avenues.

On Thursday, police say Schade was talking with the clerk when a robbery suspect came in and demanded cash. The clerk handed over money and then got on the floor as directed by the robber.

When the robber ordered Schade to get on the ground for a second time, Schade apparently refused. That’s when the robber shot Schade once in the chest.

San Diego Police had been on the lookout for the man seen in surveillance images from the robbery scene.

Rorrison said Mumin will booked into jail after he is released from the hospital. He will be charged with murder, armed robbery and attempted murder of two police officers.

Rorrison said Mumin has a criminal history, but the lieutenant could not immediately release further details.

Investigators do not know if he lived at the apartment complex in City Heights, but believe he has friends or family there and is known to frequent the area. A resident said the suspect has family that lives there. An employee at the apartment office said the suspect does not live at the complex.

Rorrison said police would remain at the scene all day Saturday collecting evidence. He advised drivers and pedestrians to avoid the area unless they live there.

Investigators were gathered around one specific apartment unit near a playground at the complex. Bullet holes could be seen there, along with other evidence being examined by police.

Mahad Nur lives at the City Heights apartment complex and said the shootout really shook up residents. He told NBC 7 the complex is usually a safe, quite place.

"Real scary what happened last night, said Nur. "We want to live peaceful in this place."

Ten wounded veterans arrived from Walter Reed Medical Center to a cheering crowd at Logan International Airport Saturday. They've traveled to compete in the Boston Marathon as part of the Achilles Freedom Team.

"The team, for so many reasons, is just thrilled to be in Boston," said Director Janet Patton.

This is Army Sgt. Christopher Anderson's first time in Boston, but it isn't his first marathon handcycling with the team.

Anderson was injured while serving in Afghanistan, but he hasn't let his injury slow him down.

"It's therapeutic, and it's a support system," said Anderson. "You've got your family's support, your friends, volunteers, a whole community."

For the first responders, and others who stood by saluting, cheering and holding American flags, they say it's the least they can do to show these brave heroes the welcome and support they deserve.

"I want them to know we love them, we're proud of them, and I can't do enough for them," said Bernadette Ippolito, a supporter whose son serves in the U.S. Army.

"Having lost my husband on 9/11, I feel very personal about their service and the sacrifices that they've made," said Christie Coombs of the Jeffrey Coombs Memorial Foundation. "Being here for the Boston Marathon shows how far they've come in their recovery, having lost limbs, having been paralyzed, having gone through what they've gone through."

The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in the FBI Laboratory's microscopic hair comparison unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000, The Washington Post reported.

Twenty-six of the 28 examiners overstated forensic matches in ways that favored prosecutors in more than 95 percent of the 268 trials reviewed so far, the Post reported Saturday, citing information from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Innocence Project.

The organizations are assisting the government with the post-conviction review of questioned forensic evidence and provided the statistics under an agreement with the government to release results after the review of the first 200 convictions, the Post reported.

The cases include those of 32 defendants sentenced to death; of those, 14 have been executed or died in prison, the Post reported in a story posted on its website.

The FBI errors alone do not mean there was not other evidence of a convict's guilt, the Post said. Defendants and federal and state prosecutors in 46 states and the District of Columbia are being notified to determine whether there are grounds for appeals, according to the newspaper. Four defendants were previously exonerated.

In a statement released to the Post, the FBI and Justice Department vowed to continue to devote resources to address all cases and said they "are committed to ensuring that affected defendants are notified of past errors and that justice is done in every instance. The department and the FBI are also committed to ensuring the accuracy of future hair analysis, as well as the application of all disciplines of forensic science."

The FBI is waiting to complete all reviews to assess causes but has acknowledged that hair examiners until 2012 lacked written standards defining scientifically appropriate and erroneous ways to explain results in court, the Post reported. The bureau expects this year to complete similar standards for testimony and lab reports for 19 forensic disciplines, the newspaper said.

Federal authorities launched the investigation in 2012 after the Post reported that flawed forensic hair matches might have led to the convictions of hundreds of potentially innocent people since at least the 1970s, typically for murder, rape and other violent crimes nationwide.

The review confirmed that FBI experts systematically testified to the near-certainty of "matches" of crime-scene hairs to defendants, backing their claims by citing incomplete or misleading statistics drawn from their case work, the Post reported. In reality, according to the newspaper, there is no accepted research on how often hair from different people may appear the same. Since 2000, the lab has used visual hair comparison to rule out someone as a possible source of hair or in combination with more accurate DNA testing.
 

A mission to find a local Marine veteran’s missing therapy dog brought more than 25 people out in Chula Vista for a vigil.

The crowd showed up for the event in honor of Nahla, who went missing last Christmas.

Many heard about Nahla and came out even as strangers to support the family looking for their dog.

“Whenever there's a dog missing it pulls at our hearts that a dog has gone away and we're going to find that dog,” said Marianne Ponce, a volunteer.

For Hernando Quandt, Nahla's reassuring smile helped him manage his post-traumatic stress after serving four years in war.

“We really miss her,” said her owner, Hernando. “She is an emotional support animal. I am a veteran of the Marine Corps. We didn't get her for that reason, but we realized what a benefit she was."

Nahla ran away from the couple’s Chula Vista neighborhood on Christmas Eve while the couple was out of town visiting a sick relative.

The dog helps Fernando Quandt cope with his post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in the Marine Corps and without her he’s lost.

“It’s almost like she could sense when I’m kind of in the middle of one of these episodes and she’d lick me or come and make the physical contact she made with me (that) kind of pulled me back,” he said.

The couple hired a well-known pet detective, launched a Facebook page and started tacking up giant posters in town. But after weeks of no luck, they hired a person to bring in specially trained dogs to try and track Nahla’s scent.

The scent brought them to the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The couple asked the government for special clearance to allow Quandt to camp out in hopes of tracking down Nahla.

The Quandts also check in regularly with animal shelters and since Nahla is microchipped they say they’d be notified even if her boyd was found on the side of a road.

“…She’s not just a pet to us. If she was just a dog to us, we’d just go get another dog,” wife Vivian Quandt said.

Fire crews are battling a two and a half acre fire at the top of Palomar Mountain, USDA Forest Service officials said. 

50 to 60 firefighters are responding to the blaze that started around 3:30 p.m., officials said, in what they catagorized as a full fire response. 

It is unclear what started the fire, they said, and it is not expected to worsen. 

A large brush fire broke out Sunday afternoon in West Kendall, Florida, near 162nd Avenue and Bird Road.

The Florida Forest Service say 300 acres have burned so far, six units are on scene treating the fire.

A portion of Southwest 8th street has been shutdown due to the fire. Officials have evacuated "The Pit Bar-B-Q" located at 16400 SW 8th Street.

Officials are advising residents near the brush fire with respiratory problems to stay indoors to avoid inhaling smoke.

180 residents had their power removed by Florida Power & Light as a precaution, it is expected to be restored around midnight.

NBC 6 viewers have been sending in photos of flames & smoke near residential homes. If you have a photo you'd like to share, please send it to isee@nbc6.com or tweet it to @NBC6.

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This is a developing story, watch NBC 6 at 11 p.m. for updates, or follow @NBC6 on Twitter.

Many athletes will cross the finish line Monday at the Boston Marathon, and among those will be athletes supported by one San Diego-based nonprofit.

The San Diego-based Challenged Athletes Foundation has supported five athletes running in the Patriot’s Day race by underwriting their travel and entry fees for the race, said executive director Virginia Tinley.

“Finishing the BM would be a huge accomplishment for any one of us,” said Tinley. “That’s one of our messages here at Challenged Athletes Foundation, is just because you have a physical challenge doesn’t mean you’re any different. So for them to complete that and get to that finish line, is just as rewarding and exhilarating as for you and I.”

Three other participants are running to raise money specifically for CAF and more than $10,000 has been raised so far.

The nonprofit raised more than $80,000 for Boston-based challenged athletes last year. This year, prior to the marathon, the nonprofit gave out 34 grants to the athletes, ranging from prosthetic limbs to sports chairs.

Three Boston Marathon Bombing survivors have also received support from the foundation in the form of mentorship, running clinics and grants for adaptive equipment.

Celeste Corcoran, Heather Abbott and Roseann Sdoia have received running legs through the nonprofit, though they will not be running the marathon just yet.

“It’s difficult to run a marathon as an amputee and it takes time…If they can run 2k, it’s an achievement,” said Tinley.

On Friday, the organization held a grant reception in coordination with Nike, honoring Roseann Sdoia and Anna Conn.

Texas firefighters say the power outages caused by Saturday night's powerful thunderstorms led to a deadly overnight fire.

When the storms knocked out electricity at the Manhattan Park Townhomes on New York Avenue in Arlington, Texas, many residents lit candles in order to get light.

For one couple, it was a deadly decision. An elderly man who uses a wheelchair was trapped in the bedroom when his wife accidentally knocked over a candle. His name has not yet been released.

Firefighters believe the victim's wife accidentally knocked over a candle when leaving the bedroom, trapping her husband. She desperately tried to get to him, suffering second-degree burns in the process, before running outside to try and get help.

"I saw the lady outside, the man's husband," said neighbor Van Nguyen. "I heard her say, 'He's still inside! He's still inside!' And she was crying, crying like crazy."

Thick, choking smoke and heavy flames poured out of the apartment around 11pm.

"I saw a lot of fire. Both windows, upstairs and downstairs. The back too. A lot of fire come out, very strong fire," Nguyen said.

A few neighbors rushed in to the unit to try and save the man. Since there was no power, they used the lights from their cell phones to try and see through the thick smoke. But it was too late.

One neighbor captured a few seconds of the dramatic search on his cell phone camera. You can hear the strangers crying out "Hello? Sir, are you there?" and then the wails of the victim's wife off-camera.

Firefighters say the victim's wife should survive but she suffered second-degree burns and is now recovering at the hospital.

Fire officials on Sunday said an unattended cooking fire sparked the Chino blaze that has charred more than 1,000 acres and triggered a smoke advisory for areas in the Inland Empire.

As of 6 p.m. Sunday, the fire had grown to 1,020 acres and was 35 percent contained, Cal Fire officials said.

Smoke was expected to travel inland on Sunday, according to NBC4 meteorologist Shanna Mendiola.

People reported smoke to emergency responders in Simi Valley that the Ventura County Fire Department determined came from the burning brush fire, about an 80-mile drive away, authorities said.

"If you are seeing or smelling smoke in the air and cannot identify an area that it is coming from it may be from the Highway Fire," a Simi Valley Police Department release said, using law enforcement's nickname for the fire.

Dry conditions from California's extreme drought, now in its fourth year, contributed to the fire's rapid spread.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory for parts of the Inland Empire Saturday, saying some area may have air that's unhealthy to breathe for sensitive groups. Likely areas to experience this air include the northwest, southwest and parts of the central San Bernardino Valley and the Norco and Corona area.

The air quality would be poor for several days, as firefighters took on the fire, Mendiola said. Winds, temperatures and dry air help fuel a fire, Mendiola said, but she expected help on several of those fronts.

Calm in the morning, winds were expected to pick up Sunday evening, possibly pushing smoke toward that Coachella Valley, Mendiola said.

Cool temperatures in the mid-70s were also forecasted, and a storm was possible later in the week, according to NBC4's forecasts.

Dry air in the area would continue to provide fuel for the fire, Mendiola said, but the cool, onshore wind would bring moisture that could temper the fire's strength. Cal Fire Capt. Mike Mohler said added humidity in the air helped stymie the spread of the fire.

Two people have died and two more have suffered injuries after a wrong-way collision in Loma Portal near Ocean Beach. 

The incident happened at approximately 12:52 a.m. on Interstate 8 heading westbound, where the driver of a 2009 Volkswagen driving westbound in the fast lane hit a 2004 Honda head-on. 

The driver of the Honda was pronounced dead on the scene. It was unknown why the driver was going that direction. 

The driver that caused the crash died at UC San Diego Medical Center. 

Officials said they do not know what caused the crash.

Two elephants heading to the Oklahoma City Zoo made a temporary pit stop at the San Diego Zoo.

Bamboo, 48, and Chai, 36, both female Asian elephants, were traveling from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle to the Oklahoma City Zoo in Oklahoma when they stopped at the San Diego Zoo due to health concerns.

The elephants arrived early Friday and were placed in quarantine at the Conrad Prebys Elephant Care Center as animal care staff evaluated their condition. As of Sunday, there was no update on their condition, a Zoo spokeswoman said.

The Elephant Care Center was opened in 2009 for ailing and geriatric elephants. The specialized care center provides care to a variety of elephants from varying backgrounds and is currently home to seven elephants, including both African and Asian species.

Oceanside Police have identified the man involved in a six hour SWAT standoff in Oceanside Saturday night as 28-year-old Matthew Machonis. 

The standoff happened at approximately 7 p.m. on the 1600 block of Broadway Street in a four unit apartment, where police said a woman living with a man called the police.

Police evacuated the apartment complex and closed off parts of nearby streets Saturday night in Oceanside as they surrounded a building in a SWAT standoff situation that lasted more than five hours.

Police said a 28-year-old military man told them he was armed with an assault rifle and that the situation would not end well for him or the police, as Machonis threatened to shoot them and himself. Police said it stemmed from the fact that he is in the process of being discharged from the military.

Police said the incident started when they got a call from a woman who said her live-in boyfriend had a gun to her head and threatened to kill her. She told police she was able to wrestle the gun away and throw it in the bathroom.

Police said she thought she could talk her boyfriend down, but she gave up and walked out. That's when they said he threatened to shoot them and their armored vehicle. The man holed up in the house and told police he had at least three weapons inside, including a semi-automatic pistol and a shotgun. 

Police had portions of Morse and the 1600 block of Broadway blocked off as the night progressed.

He was taken into custody without incident at approximately 1:10 a.m. and booked into Vista Detention Facility for assault with a deadly weapons and domestic battery.

A search of the residence found a Remington 870 shotgun and a Glock 40 caliber semi-automatic handgun, both of which were seized and taken into custody.

Four of 52 passengers on a tour bus en route to Ventura were treated for injuries after the bus caught fire on Sunday, fire officials said.

San Bernardino County firefighters received a call around 1 p.m. stating that a tour bus was on fire near the intersection of Interstate 40 and Needles Highway. The bus was returning from Laughlin, Nevada, to Ventura.

When firefighters arrived, the rear of the bus was on fire "with heavy smoke traveling throughout the bus," according to a San Bernardino County Fire Department statement.

The driver of the San Luis Obispo bus was able to evacuate all 52 passengers, but four people were treated for injuries. One person suffered from a respiratory emergency and three others suffered from heat-related problems.

The driver of the San Luis Obispo-based tour bus told fire officials he heard what sounded like a rear tire exploding and immediately pulled over to the side of the road. He added that the back of the bus immediately caught on fire and he began evacuating the passengers.

The tour bus was engulfed in flames and officials estimate the loss to be at $250,000.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

The iconic mac and cheese in a blue box will start showing its true colors.

Northfield, Illinois-based, Kraft Foods announced Monday it will remove artificial preservatives and synthetic colors from its “Original Kraft Macaroni and Cheese” in the U.S. starting Jan. 2016.

Kraft will replace the synthetic colors currently used with natural sources such as paprika, annatto and turmeric, the company said. The company hopes the move will “delight consumers with on-trend updates to meet consumers’ changing lifestyles and needs.”

“[Families] told us they want to feel good about the foods they eat and serve their families, including everything from improved nutrition to simpler ingredients,” Triona Schmelter, vice president of marketing meals at Kraft, said in a statement. “They also told us they won’t compromise on the taste of their mac and cheese – and neither will we. That’s why we’ve been working tirelessly to find the right recipe that our fans will love.”

The company’s announcement comes on the heels of other changes in its mac and cheese recipes.

Kraft’s “Mac and Cheese Boxed Shapes” in the U.S. launched last year with six grams of whole grains per serving, reduced saturated fat by 25 percent, lowered sodium by 100 milligrams per serving and no synthetic colors. Most recently, artificial preservatives were removed from the same product this past year.

The company’s Canadian division, Kraft Dinner, will begin removing synthetic colors from its “Kraft Dinner Original” by the end of next year. Synthetic colors were removed from “Kraft Dinner Boxed Shapes” last year while its “Original” recipe reduced sodium by 19 percent since 2012.

“Listening, extensive research and continuous improvement have been part of the Kraft Mac and Cheese 75-year heritage,” Schmelter said. “From packaging like convenient ‘Cups’ to products like ‘Deluxe,’ ‘Organic’ and ‘Whole Grain’ to light prep instructions, we’ve innovated this iconic brand through the years to remain North America’s favorite mac and cheese.”

Kraft Foods made headlines last month when it recalled about 6.5 million boxes of original flavor "Kraft Macaroni and Cheese" and merged with H.J. Heinz Company.

A sea lion pup was kidnapped on a Los Angeles beach Sunday morning, a witness told police officers. Now, an investigation is underway to find the missing pup and its kidnappers.

Two pups that made their way onto Dockweiler State Beach were being harassed by a group of people at about 3:30 a.m., the witness said, according to Los Angeles Police Department officers. Reports stated that the group was throwing things at the sea lions, including cinder blocks.

They took a blanket out of a car, wrapped up one of the sea lions and took off with the animal in a black Honda Civic, police said.

When officers arrived, they found the second sea lion trying to make its way out of some bushes and back to shore. That pup was able to escape its attackers and was picked up by Marine Animal Rescue.

Keeping a sea lion is a federal crime, and can be very difficult and dangerous -- they bite harder than a pit bull and have "the dirtiest mouth of any mammal," said Peter Wallerstein of Marine Animal Rescue, who said this was his 321st rescue of the year, more than the entirety of 2014.

"They could get bitten, they could get infected," Wallerstein said of the people who kidnapped the animal. "The sea lions can inflict a very serious bite."

The Marine Mammal Protection Act makes feeding and harassing sea lions illegal. An LAPD spokesman said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is a federal agency that tracks sea lion strandings in Southern California, is investigating the possible kidnapping.

The sea lion attackers and kidnappers could face fines up to $10,000 and possibly up to one year jail time.

Sea lion strandings and interactions with humans have been much more frequent than normal in the last few years. Last week, a sea lion walked about five blocks to a San Diego-area high school.

A rescue group in Laguna Beach said they are treating twice as many malnourished sea lions as last year. Statewide, rescue centers have taken in more than 1,600 marine mammals, which is three to four times the normal average.

"We've doubled our rescues and there seems to be no end in sight," Wallerstein told NBC4 in March.

Scientists think warmer-than-usual ocean waters are pushing away sea lions' favored foods, leaving them struggling to find something to eat.

"These sea lions need a specialized food supply," Wallerstein said.

Wallerstein said underfed sea lions get out out of and as far away from the water as possible because they don't have as much body fat as they should and get cold easily.

If you see a sea lion or seal, call lifeguards or marine mammal rescue, but don't go near it, he said.

City News Service contributed to this report.

An 8-year-old boy was found safe Monday about three hours after his family's car was stolen from their driveway with him inside as he was waiting to be taken to school, authorities said.

Fairfield police released the frantic 911 call from Suzanne Guzman, the mother of the boy, who called police saying that the family car had been stolen and her son had been in the back seat at that time.

In the recording, a distraught Guzman can be heard giving a description of the car in tears. Police said Monday afternoon that a person of interest has been identified and is in custody on unrelated charges. The investigation is still ongoing.

The Amber Alert for Brock Guzman was cancelled just before 8:30 a.m. after police said a neighbor spotted him sleeping inside the back of the stolen car about two miles from his home in the 1000 block of Meadowlark Drive in Fairfield. Police said an "alert citizen" called police after noticing the stolen Toyota in the 400 block of Dahlia Street.

The car thief, wearing a black hat and a black sweatshirt, told Brock that he didn't realize he was asleep in the back seat, his father, Paul Guzman said. And with that, he said, his son went back to sleep.

Police said a bicycle left outside the family home on a sidewalk was taken into evidence, although detectives don't know at this point if it's related to the crime.

An aunt called it a "blessing." Family friend Brock Ordaz, for whom the young Brock is named, said "God is good."

Brock's mother, Suzanne Guzman, said she can't believe her son was taken in a matter of 30 seconds.

"I was in a panic all morning until I heard he was safe," Brock's mother, Suzanne Guzman told NBC Bay Area on Monday.

Brock  was taken just before 5 a.m. as he waited, asleep, in his parents' 2001 silver Toyota Corolla,  police spokeswoman Kathryn McCormick said.

Brock's dad had left the car warming up in the driveway when it was stolen, police said. His mom was supposed to enter the car to take her children to school. Brock and his older brother go to school in Napa, about 20 miles away, the family said. The older brother was not in the car when it was stolen.

"About 4:45 this morning, we got a frantic call from Mom saying that the vehicle had been stolen and that child had been in the back seat at that time," McCormick said. "Since then, officers have been searching all over the city."

McCormick said it appeared to be a "crime of opportunity," and that the car thief likely "didn't even know that Brock was asleep in the back."

Suzanne Guzman said she learned an important lesson: Never leave warm up your car with your children inside unattended.

No one in the family will "ever be doing that again," she said, saying she will learn from this "mistake." "None of us are perfect," she said.

NBC Bay Area's Tim Bollinger, Lisa Fernandez, Riya Bhattacahrjee and KCRA contributed them to the report.

Star Trek's William Shatner plans to launch a $30 billion fundraising campaign to aid in California's drought relief efforts.

The actor who played Captain James T. Kirk announced his intention via a video interview with Yahoo.

“So I’m starting a Kickstarter campaign," he said. "I want $30 billion … to build a pipeline like the Alaska pipeline. Say, from Seattle — a place where there’s a lot of water. There’s too much water. How bad would it be to get a large, 4-foot pipeline, keep it above ground — because if it leaks, you’re irrigating!”

The campaign has not been posted as of press time, but a $30 billion goal would boldly go where no Kickstarter effort has gone before as far as fundraising goals.

Watch Shatner detail his idea in the video below:

Anthony Doerr's "All the Light We Cannot See," a World War II novel that has been one of the top-selling literary works of the past year, has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Pulitzer judges on Monday cited Doerr's "imaginative and intricate novel," which alternates brief chapters between a blind French girl and young Nazi soldier. Doerr, fittingly, was in Paris when the award was announced. A resident of Boise, Idaho, Doerr needed more than a decade to complete "All the Light We Cannot See," more time than the war itself. He told The Associated Press that there were days when he thought "he would never finish the book" and was especially surprised by his Pulitzer since the story "contains no Americans."

The $10,000 prize is given "for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life."

"Obviously, it's wonderful," the 41-year-old Doerr said of the Pulitzer, adding that he was enjoying ice cream with his family when his editor called to share the news.

Fiction finalists included previous winner Richard Ford for "Let Me Be Frank with You," post-Hurricane Sandy stories featuring his longtime protagonist Frank Bascombe, the main character of his 1996 Pulitzer winner "Independence Day."

Also Monday, Stephen Adly Guirgis's "Between Riverside and Crazy" won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, with judges hailing the New York playwright for using "dark comedy to confront questions of life and death." The play tells of a cantankerous ex-cop who owns a piece of real estate on the Upper West Side and makes it a refuge for the hard-luck orphans who have become his surrogate family.

The Pulitzer for general nonfiction went to "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History," by Elizabeth Kolbert, whose work was praised by judges as "an exploration of nature that forces readers to consider the threat posed by human behavior to a world of astonishing diversity."

David I. Kertzer's "The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe" won for biography-autobiography, and "Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People " by Elizabeth A. Fenn, won for history.

The poetry prize was given to Gregory Pardlo's "Digest" and Julia Wolfe's "Anthracite Fields" won for music.

Wolfe's work, described by judges as a "powerful oratorio for chorus and sextet," was composed after a year's study of the Pennsylvania coal mining industry at the turn of the 20th Century, near where Wolfe grew up in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania.

"I'm definitely shell-shocked," Wolfe, 56, said from her home in New York City. She describes herself as a musical renegade, with inspirations that come from folks, classical and rock, and said she hopes the award can inspire other musicians to follow dreams that follow unconventional paths.

Here's a list of the 2015 Pulitzers in journalism and the arts:

Journalism:

Public Service: The Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina

Breaking News Reporting: The Seattle Times staff

Investigative Reporting: Eric Lipton of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal staff

Explanatory Reporting: Zachary R. Mider of Bloomberg News

Local Reporting: Rob Kuznia, Rebecca Kimitch and Frank Suraci of the Daily Breeze of Torrance, California

National Reporting: Carol D. Leonnig of The Washington Post

International Reporting: The New York Times staff

Feature Writing: Diana Marcum of the Los Angeles Times

Commentary: Lisa Falkenberg of the Houston Chronicle

Criticism: Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times

Editorial Writing: Kathleen Kingsbury of The Boston Globe

Editorial Cartooning: Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News

Breaking News Photography: St. Louis Post-Dispatch photography staff

Feature Photography: Daniel Berehulak, freelance photographer, The New York Times

Letters and Drama:

Fiction: "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr (Scribner)

Drama: "Between Riverside and Crazy" by Stephen Adly Guirgis

History: "Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People" by Elizabeth A. Fenn (Hill and Wang)

Biography: "The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe" by David I. Kertzer (Random House)

Poetry: "Digest" by Gregory Pardlo (Four Way Books)

General Nonfiction: "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History" by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry Holt)

Music:

"Anthracite Fields" by Julia Wolfe (G. Schirmer Inc.)